Solidarity with Ukraine is being established in the world of canoeing. The international body of the discipline, the ICF, announces that it has opened a bank account dedicated to donations and contributions to the Ukrainian canoe-kayak community, in particular athletes, coaches and their families. Poland has already led by example, providing accommodation, meals and training facilities to a group of Ukrainian athletes who were in the country for training at the start of the Russian invasion. . Among them, the young Ukrainian Viktoriia Dobrotvorska (photo above) says she was woken up in the night, on February 24, by the ringing of her phone. She thus learned, through several messages, the news of the first Russian attacks. “ I was panicked, she explains in an interview relayed by the ICF in a press release, where she explains that her husband and daughter were still in Ukraine. I went to my coach and asked him to take me to the border, I don't care how, you have to take me to the border. I'm going to cross the border, I'm going to come home.... » After a series of phone calls, the 29-year-old was able to reach Lviv, a Ukrainian city located just 70 kilometers from the Polish border, where she was reunited with her husband, daughter and mother. For 24 hours, Viktoriia Dobrotvorska and her family slept at Lviv train station, before boarding a train and finding refuge in Poland. The ICF is among the international federations to have followed the IOC's recommendation to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes. It also canceled all its events, meetings and forums planned in both countries in 2022.
